@eyemgh
My team doesn’t have a FIS program, so that’s a no from me. And trust me, I know all about the Mormons. I didn’t want to say it, because some people get kind of offended, but I think that SLC is kind of a pit. I don’t like it there. It’s dirty and sprawly and just not for me. I also find the skiing to be rather cutthroat–Snowbird’s great to visit, but I wouldn’t want to spend every single winter weekend for four years fighting off every ski bum in SLC for a halfway decent line. I’ve never skied in Colorado (though I’ve visited ski areas in the summer), but I already know that Winter Park is more affordable than resorts of equal quality in Utah. As nice as it would be to live that close to the greatest snow on Earth, Utah is just not on my radar.
@“jesse’sgirl” My reasons for Utah aren’t necessarily related to the Mormons.
SLC is a funny town. There are parts that are atrocious, but stay on the foothill, and in particular, in the mountains and it’s beautiful. Look west and it’s hazy Nevada like. Look east…Switzerland. The campus is nice too. The only Colorado resort that rivals Utah is Telluride. Even though the terrain is best at Snowbird/Alta as far as steep lines go, the secret is to go to Solitude and Brighton. The snow is still great. There’s better tree skiing and the crowds are nonexistent.
BTW, by son found SLC to be unattractive also. Despite free tuition and unparalleled access to the lifts, that’s largely why he passed. That and he knew he wanted ME. He really liked Cal Poly’s ME program.
If Utah is out, Boulder would be my next choice. I’d probably pick UNR over MSU just for the variety.
Why not add whichever prestigious schools your parents attended to the list? Most students don’t know where they want to go at this point in the summer. Keep your list full of options. In the end, you might have fewer choices than you thought you would. I don’t see any reason not to apply to a variety of schools. You might be a different person come May 1.
@eyemgh Still, though. A season pass at my home mountain is $229. At Winter Park, it’s $319. For Solitude and Brighton, it’s well over $500. That would be a hard pill to swallow, especially since they’re both smaller and shorter than my home mountain, while Winter Park is quite a bit larger. (I’m talking about Winter Park because the Mines ski team skis there)
@Studious99 I think my mom is going to make me apply to Princeton since it is on the Common App. I’m also actually really interested in Cornell, and I thought that would be good enough for them, since it’s Ivy League, but apparently not.
If you want to avoid crowds, Winter Park is not the place to go. It’s a destination resort and the closest big hill to Denver. My son grew up on a tiny little mountain with good steeps and trees. He can ski any line, anywhere in any condition. Acreage is grossly overrated for the best ski experience.
Now, if you’re willing to ExPat, UBC is close to Whistler. 
RPI has very good engineering and a top notch club race team. It’s east coast skiing though.
My best friend’s daughter sounds like you. She will be attending U New Hampshire. She also considered/applied to U Vermont, Bates, Middlebury, Colby, Williams, and state schools in Utah and Colorado. You won’t get decent skiing in Syracuse.
Are you sure you don’t want to consider Dartmouth? The school has a whole lot of serious skiers, a shuttle from the school to the mountain, and strong environmental engineering.
http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/academics/undergraduate/ab/faqs/
http://www.dartmouthsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=11600&SPID=4723&;
Go ahead and apply to a few of the schools your family is pressing on you. Even with a great background and stats, odds are against you getting in and that takes you off the hook.
If your interest in skiing extends to Nordic/cross country, there are many prestigious options. Also if you are open to LACs, still more.
Off the top of my head (many already mentioned): Dartmouth, Cornell, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Carleton, and Colorado College.
It is also by no means certain that you will be accepted to HYPS.
I would not sacrifice quality of education for proximity to skiing. Agree that Dartmouth and some other schools noted on this thread might be an alternative that could work for all. Also agree that admission is not guaranteed at any school despite your qualifications and legacy.
I’d also suggest that you research options to find skiing at schools that you would otherwise want to attend. For example:
http://recreation.gocrimson.com/recreation/club_sports/pages/Skiing
Stanford has an alpine ski team. It does not seem that skiing NCAA is your goal so there are many schools that have USCSA teams. http://www.uscsa.com/member-schools.html
If you are willing to consider Dartmouth or Middlebury, then you should also check out Williams, which is comparable in terms of selectivity, rural New England location, and general outdoorsiness. Williams no longer has its own ski area (they did at one time), but they have an arrangement with a commercial ski area (Jiminy Peak) that is about the same distance from the college as Dartmouth’s or Middlebury’s.
@Chembiodad Middlebury and Dartmouth? They are great schools but great skiing? I don’t even ski and even I know powder is preferable to icy crunchy stuff. @ski_racer there are good schools in the west, if you’re a good enough student that Stanford was a possibility, you don’t have to go to Syracuse just because of skiing.
New England schools routinely place well in the NCAA skiing rankings. For example:
Final Standings, 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships (hosted by University of New Hampshire):
4 Dartmouth (#2 in Alpine)
5 University of Vermont
9 University of New Hampshire
10 Colby
12 Williams
14 Middlebury
http://www.ncaa.com/2017-skiing-championship
NCAA skiing events are generally cross-divisional. Note that Colby, Williams, and Midd are competitive despite being small liberal arts colleges with Division III sports (i.e. no athletic scholarships). Dartmouth is Division I but an Ivy, which means that it does not offer athletic scholarships either.
Since 2001, the NCAA national championships have been held at the Middlebury College ski area three times, and at the Dartmouth College ski area once. UVM, UNH, Bates, and SLU have all hosted as well.
@happy1 @mamaedefamilia Yes, I understand that admission is not guaranteed anywhere, but I would be on par to be a reasonably competitive applicant. I’m the type of student that most people envision would normally apply to schools like that. Not much of a nordic skier. I have a list of schools that I’M interested in, the problem is that I need a way to explain to these crazy people why I’m not applying/going to the most prestigious, brand-name school I can find.
@nordicdad Stanford is a little far from Tahoe for me. To go from a 30-minute drive to a 3-hour drive would be a little much. @Corbett I’m not on track for NCAA. I have a list schools with USCSA teams where I would be happy. My problem is that I need a way to explain to snobby relatives why I’m not applying/going to Yale/Princeton/Harvard when they fully believe I could be accepted.
There is skiing and there is racing. Two different things.
Winter Park is not just around the corner from Boulder. On a perfect, no snow, no traffic day it is at least 2 hours. Those no traffic days are few and far between, and it can often take 4 hours to get home on a Saturday or Sunday but the average is at least 3 hours each way. Getting there involves going over a pass, so makes Copper Mtn about the same distance. Also, Loveland is much closer, as is A Basin. I’d also check the terms on the $319 pass - often have to be purchased the year before and the prices keep going up the closer you get to the start of the season.
At CU, the ski team trains at Eldora, a much smaller hill. They are racing, not looking for great terrain. When I went to CU, I skied one or two Saturdays per month. I did mostly go to Winter Park because back in the day it was still managed by the City of Denver and tickets were cheap - $13 but if you carpooled with 4 in the car, you each got $1 off. Those days are long gone. Part of your 3+ hours to get to the hill will be spent shuttling in from the outlying parking and $13 might get you a cookie and a coke at the hill but certainly not lunch. Get there early and you can save about 20 minutes by parking at Mary Jane.
No one at CU engineering or School of Mines is spending every weekend skiing. It costs too much and takes too much time. My nephew at CU has a family home in Silverthorne and his girlfriend has one in Vail but he has no time to ski every weekend. I’d be surprised if he skis 10 days per year.
If you want to ski, ski. If you want to go to college, go to college.
@twoinanddone That’s all very interesting, but doesn’t answer my question: How do explain to ridiculous relatives that I don’t WANT to go to HYP, even if they fully believe I could get in?
They’re never going to believe you no matter what you say. Just have a set response and don’t try to convince them when they inevitably argue back.